Tricalcium phosphate is widely used as an excipient in pharmaceutical applications.
Recent studies that establish the value of mineral dietary supplements that supply both calcium and phosphorus has given rise to an interest in making oral dosage forms, such as tablets or caplets and including chewable oral dosage forms such as chewable tablets, wherein calcium phosphate is the main ingredient.
However, attempts to use tricalcium phosphate as the main ingredient in oral dosage forms have resulted in tablets that exhibit an undesirably low hardness. Moreover, chewable tablets made using calcium phosphates exhibit undesirable mouth feel described as “gritty” and or “chalky”.
What is needed is a way to make oral dosage forms that contain a high relative amount of tricalcium phosphate and that exhibit good properties, including acceptable hardness. A further need is for such tablets, if designed to be chewable tablets, to have acceptable sensory qualities, including good mouthfeel, lack of grittiness, and lack of chalkiness.